Veda (brother of Sindhudvīpa)
Veda · veda, “knowledge, the sacred Veda”
Veda has other meanings too: see all meanings of Veda.
Veda is a great ṛshi (muni), the younger brother of the virtuous ṛshi Sindhudvīpa. Every day he worshipped Bhagavān Śiva in the liṅga called Ādikeśa, on the southern bank of the Gautamī near Śrīgiri, with forest flowers, roots and fruits and with the proper mantras. He was self-controlled, kept the rules of the śāstras, and had no wife or sons: Ādikeśa was his only refuge. Yet when he found that an unlettered hunter of the Bhilla people worshipped the same liṅga with water carried in his mouth, leaves and meat, and that Ādikeśa spoke to the hunter with love, Veda was angry, and threatened to drop a boulder on the liṅga itself. Ādikeśa showed him, through the hunter’s offering of his own life, that bhakti (devotion) lives where the mind is wholly absorbed, granted varas first to the hunter and then gave Veda many kinds of varas (boons). The place is the tīrtha called Bhillatīrtha.
Brahmā tells this account to Nārada in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa.
His pūjā of Ādikeśa
On the southern bank of the Gaṅgā (the Gautamī), in the northern region of Śrīgiri, Mahādeva, giver of every cherished desire, is always present in the form of a liṅga. He is known as Ādikeśa and is worshipped with devotion by the ṛshis. Every day Veda worshipped Ādikeśa, the three-eyed enemy of the three cities, with great devotion, offering divine forest flowers, splendid roots, fruits and kanda (bulbous roots). When the sun reached midday, he went to the village to receive bhikshā (alms).
While he was away, a hunter came to that holy mountain to hunt. He carried the meat of his kill on the tip of his bow, brought water from the Gaṅgā in his mouth and leaves in his hand, pushed Veda’s flowers from the liṅga with his foot, bathed Śiva with the water from his mouth, offered the leaves, and placed the meat as naivedya (food offering), saying, “May Śiva be pleased with me.” He knew nothing but bhakti to Śiva, and Bhagavān Śiva was pleased with him. For a long time both Veda and the hunter worshipped Ādikeśa Śiva, together with Umā, every day.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 99
Veda’s anger
At last Veda said in anger, “Who is the pāpī (wrongdoer) who spoils my pūjā (worship), done with devotion to Śiva and with mantras? He shall die at my hands. One who maliciously betrays gurus, devas, brāhmaṇas or his master deserves to be killed even by a muni; a man treacherous to Śiva deserves to be killed by everyone.” He thought: “This wicked one has spoiled my pūjā of forest flowers, roots and fruits, and has done another kind of pūjā with flesh and leaves of trees. I shall hide and see this worshipper.”
The hunter came as before. When he had worshipped, Ādikeśa spoke to him: “O hunter of great intelligence, you are tired. You have come after a long time. Why is it so? I am miserable without you; I find no happiness. Be at peace, dear son.” Hearing the deity speak so, Veda was astonished and angry, but he said nothing.
When the hunter had gone home, Veda went before the deity. “This hunter does acts of pāpa,” he said. “He is without sacred rites and without true knowledge; he injures living beings without pity. He is of low birth, knows nothing, does not know the order of the gurus, always does improper deeds and has not conquered his senses. You have shown yourself to him, but you say nothing to me. I have controlled my senses; I perform holy rites; I worship with the proper mantras by the rules of the śāstras. You are my only refuge for ever; I have no wife and no sons. He worships you with defiled flesh, yet you are pleased with him. I shall punish this Bhilla. Some are pleased with the soft-hearted, some with the evil-minded; so I shall without doubt let fall a boulder on your head.”
Ādikeśa laughed and said, “Wait till tomorrow. Then you can drop the boulder on my head.” Saying “So be it”, Veda threw aside the boulder in his hand, controlled his anger and said, “I shall do it tomorrow.”
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 99
The wound on the liṅga and the varas
The next morning Veda bathed, performed his rites and his pūjā as usual, and then looked at the head of the liṅga. There he saw a terrible wound, covered with blood. “What is this on the head of the liṅga?” he thought. “A great calamity may befall us.” He covered it with clay and cow-dung, scrubbed it with kuśa grass, washed it with the waters of the Gaṅgā, and performed his pūjā.
Then the hunter came, free of every pāpa (wrong deed). Seeing the bleeding wound on the head of Śaṅkara Ādikeśa, he cried, “What is this?” and at once cut himself into a hundred and a thousand pieces with his sharp arrows, reproaching himself that this had happened while he was alive. Mahādeva beheld the devotee’s act in wonder, and spoke to Veda, the most excellent of those who know the Vedas:
“O highly intelligent one, see this hunter, a devotee full of noble feeling. You touched my head with clay, kuśa grass and water. But this hunter, O brāhmaṇa, has given his life to me at once. Bhakti, love and power are where there is intense absorption. Therefore, excellent brāhmaṇa, I shall grant varas to him first, and then to you.”
Maheśvara granted the hunter his varas, and the tīrtha has since been called Bhillatīrtha, after him. Then Bhagavān Śiva granted Veda, too, many kinds of varas. Bhillatīrtha destroys all pāpas and gives bhakti to the feet of Mahādeva, and snāna and dāna there grant bhukti and moksha.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 99
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 99